Section 3963.02 | Assignment of right under health care contracts.
(A)(1) No contracting entity shall sell, rent, or give a third party the contracting entity's rights to a participating provider's services pursuant to the contracting entity's health care contract with the participating provider unless one of the following applies:
(a) The third party accessing the participating provider's services under the health care contract is an employer or other entity providing coverage for health care services to its employees or members, and that employer or entity has a contract with the contracting entity or its affiliate for the administration or processing of claims for payment for services provided pursuant to the health care contract with the participating provider.
(b) The third party accessing the participating provider's services under the health care contract either is an affiliate or subsidiary of the contracting entity or is providing administrative services to, or receiving administrative services from, the contracting entity or an affiliate or subsidiary of the contracting entity.
(c) The health care contract specifically provides that it applies to network rental arrangements and states that one purpose of the contract is selling, renting, or giving the contracting entity's rights to the services of the participating provider, including other preferred provider organizations, and the third party accessing the participating provider's services is any of the following:
(i) A payer or a third-party administrator or other entity responsible for administering claims on behalf of the payer;
(ii) A preferred provider organization or preferred provider network that receives access to the participating provider's services pursuant to an arrangement with the preferred provider organization or preferred provider network in a contract with the participating provider that is in compliance with division (A)(1)(c) of this section, and is required to comply with all of the terms, conditions, and affirmative obligations to which the originally contracted primary participating provider network is bound under its contract with the participating provider, including, but not limited to, obligations concerning patient steerage and the timeliness and manner of reimbursement.
(iii) An entity that is engaged in the business of providing electronic claims transport between the contracting entity and the payer or third-party administrator and complies with all of the applicable terms, conditions, and affirmative obligations of the contracting entity's contract with the participating provider including, but not limited to, obligations concerning patient steerage and the timeliness and manner of reimbursement.
(2) The contracting entity that sells, rents, or gives the contracting entity's rights to the participating provider's services pursuant to the contracting entity's health care contract with the participating provider as provided in division (A)(1) of this section shall do both of the following:
(a) Maintain a web page that contains a listing of third parties described in divisions (A)(1)(b) and (c) of this section with whom a contracting entity contracts for the purpose of selling, renting, or giving the contracting entity's rights to the services of participating providers that is updated at least every six months and is accessible to all participating providers, or maintain a toll-free telephone number accessible to all participating providers by means of which participating providers may access the same listing of third parties;
(b) Require that the third party accessing the participating provider's services through the participating provider's health care contract is obligated to comply with all of the applicable terms and conditions of the contract, including, but not limited to, the products for which the participating provider has agreed to provide services, except that a payer receiving administrative services from the contracting entity or its affiliate shall be solely responsible for payment to the participating provider.
(3) Any information disclosed to a participating provider under this section shall be considered proprietary and shall not be distributed by the participating provider.
(4) Except as provided in division (A)(1) of this section, no entity shall sell, rent, or give a contracting entity's rights to the participating provider's services pursuant to a health care contract.
(B)(1) No contracting entity shall require, as a condition of contracting with the contracting entity, that a participating provider provide services for all of the products offered by the contracting entity.
(2) Division (B)(1) of this section shall not be construed to do any of the following:
(a) Prohibit any participating provider from voluntarily accepting an offer by a contracting entity to provide health care services under all of the contracting entity's products;
(b) Prohibit any contracting entity from offering any financial incentive or other form of consideration specified in the health care contract for a participating provider to provide health care services under all of the contracting entity's products;
(c) Require any contracting entity to contract with a participating provider to provide health care services for less than all of the contracting entity's products if the contracting entity does not wish to do so.
(3)(a) Notwithstanding division (B)(2) of this section, no contracting entity shall require, as a condition of contracting with the contracting entity, that the participating provider accept any future product offering that the contracting entity makes.
(b) If a participating provider refuses to accept any future product offering that the contracting entity makes, the contracting entity may terminate the health care contract based on the participating provider's refusal upon written notice to the participating provider no sooner than one hundred eighty days after the refusal.
(4) Once the contracting entity and the participating provider have signed the health care contract, it is presumed that the financial incentive or other form of consideration that is specified in the health care contract pursuant to division (B)(2)(b) of this section is the financial incentive or other form of consideration that was offered by the contracting entity to induce the participating provider to enter into the contract.
(C) No contracting entity shall require, as a condition of contracting with the contracting entity, that a participating provider waive or forego any right or benefit expressly conferred upon a participating provider by state or federal law. However, this division does not prohibit a contracting entity from restricting a participating provider's scope of practice for the services to be provided under the contract.
(D) No health care contract shall do any of the following:
(1) Prohibit any participating provider from entering into a health care contract with any other contracting entity;
(2) Prohibit any contracting entity from entering into a health care contract with any other provider;
(3) Preclude its use or disclosure for the purpose of enforcing this chapter or other state or federal law, except that a health care contract may require that appropriate measures be taken to preserve the confidentiality of any proprietary or trade-secret information.
(E)(1) In addition to any other lawful reasons for terminating a health care contract, a health care contract may only be terminated under the circumstances described in division (A)(3) of section 3963.04 of the Revised Code.
(2) If the health care contract provides for termination for cause by either party, the health care contract shall state the reasons that may be used for termination for cause, which terms shall be reasonable. Once the contracting entity and the participating provider have signed the health care contract, it is presumed that the reasons stated in the health care contract for termination for cause by either party are reasonable. Subject to division (E)(3) of this section, the health care contract shall state the time by which the parties must provide notice of termination for cause and to whom the parties shall give the notice.
(3) Nothing in divisions (E)(1) and (2) of this section shall be construed as prohibiting any health insuring corporation from terminating a participating provider's contract for any of the causes described in divisions (A), (D), and (F)(1) and (2) of section 1753.09 of the Revised Code. Notwithstanding any provision in a health care contract pursuant to division (E)(2) of this section, section 1753.09 of the Revised Code applies to the termination of a participating provider's contract for any of the causes described in divisions (A), (D), and (F)(1) and (2) of section 1753.09 of the Revised Code.
(4) Subject to sections 3963.01 to 3963.11 of the Revised Code, nothing in this section prohibits the termination of a health care contract without cause if the health care contract otherwise provides for termination without cause.
(F)(1) Disputes among parties to a health care contract that only concern the enforcement of the contract rights conferred by section 3963.02, divisions (A) and (D) of section 3963.03, and section 3963.04 of the Revised Code are subject to a mutually agreed upon arbitration mechanism that is binding on all parties. The arbitrator may award reasonable attorney's fees and costs for arbitration relating to the enforcement of this section to the prevailing party.
(2) The arbitrator shall make the arbitrator's decision in an arbitration proceeding having due regard for any applicable rules, bulletins, rulings, or decisions issued by the department of insurance or any court concerning the enforcement of the contract rights conferred by section 3963.02, divisions (A) and (D) of section 3963.03, and section 3963.04 of the Revised Code.
(3) A party shall not simultaneously maintain an arbitration proceeding as described in division (F)(1) of this section and pursue a complaint with the superintendent of insurance to investigate the subject matter of the arbitration proceeding. However, if a complaint is filed with the department of insurance, the superintendent may choose to investigate the complaint or, after reviewing the complaint, advise the complainant to proceed with arbitration to resolve the complaint. The superintendent may request to receive a copy of the results of the arbitration. If the superintendent of insurance notifies an insurer or a health insuring corporation in writing that the superintendent has initiated a market conduct examination into the specific subject matter of the arbitration proceeding pending against that insurer or health insuring corporation, the arbitration proceeding shall be stayed at the request of the insurer or health insuring corporation pending the outcome of the market conduct investigation by the superintendent.
Available Versions of this Section
- June 25, 2008 – House Bill 125 - 127th General Assembly [ View June 25, 2008 Version ]
- March 20, 2019 – Amended by House Bill 156, Senate Bill 273 - 132nd General Assembly [ View March 20, 2019 Version ]
- October 24, 2024 – Amended by Senate Bill 40 - 135th General Assembly [ View October 24, 2024 Version ]